Jubilee wants Kenya’s envoy to USA recalled

By Geoffrey Mosoku

The Jubilee Alliance now wants Kenya’s Ambassador to the US Elkanah Odembo recalled over claims of misrepresentation.

Jubilee says it has written to Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding that Mr Odembo be summoned to Nairobi to explain his role in the US’ mixed signal on the March 4 General Election.

The coalition led by Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto further accused the envoy of working for the interest of CORD presidential candidate Raila Odinga.

“As Jubilee, we have officially written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to state our position on the contradictory statement issued by US undersecretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson,” former Dujis MP Aden Duale said.

Mr Duale said in their protest letter, the Jubilee coalition accuses Odembo of influencing Mr Carson to issue a statement to warn Kenya of possible sanctions should Uhuru/Ruto be elected in spite of President Obama’s assurance that US remains neutral.

Jubilee claims that the ambassador received a call from Raila after President Obama’s speech and he made a “secret” trip to the State Department to meet Carson.

“Odembo is Kenya’s ambassador to the US and protocol demands that any meeting he has must be official but we are reliably informed that he met Carson incognito at the state department for over three hours.”

Influencing America

“In our opinion he is not Kenya’s ambassador but a lobbyist for CORD and we have written a protest letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of Civil Service demanding that he should be recalled to explain his engagement in politics,” Duale added.

However, Foreign Affairs PS Thuita Mwangi said the Ministry has not received such complaints.

“The ministry has not received any complaint whether formal or informal and Odembo is still at his work station and will not be recalled,” Mr Thuita said.

The envoy admitted meeting Carson but said this was to show support for Kenya’s candidate for the top job at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ms Amina Mohammed, and had nothing to do with influencing America’s position on the forthcoming General Election.

Former Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny said one of the senior officials at the Kenyan mission in Washington sent a text message to Uhuru over the alleged ‘secret’ meeting between the two.

Jubilee has accused the US and some European countries of  influencing the election in Kenya through threats of sanctions should Uhuru and Ruto who are indicted by the ICC win the polls.